Karla Nicholson

Title: The Courage to Change

David Levering Lewis

Title: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Long Road Back to Great Barrington

"In the course of his long, turbulent career, then, Great Barrington’s prodigy attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of 20th century racial injustice and economic exploitation. An extraordinary mind of color in a racialized century, Du Bois’s principled impatience with what he saw as the egregious failings of American democracy drove him, decade by decade, to the paradox of defending totalitarianism in the service of a global ideal of economic and social justice. Surely, it is time both to forgive his flaws and to prize his genius. My discovery this afternoon that three handsome road signs announce that Great Barrington is Du Bois’s birth place assure me that that time has all but arrived." - Lewis, Du Bois Center at Great Barrington